The Allen County Courthouse

The Allen County Courthouse. . The present Allen County Courthouse is the fourth to serve the county's judicial needs. Its cornerstone was laid on November 17, 1897, in the largest public ceremony held in Fort Wayne to that time. Louis Peltier, who had been born in the fort in 1813, was the guest of honor, and Governor James A. Mount officiated. The building, which was designed by local architect Brentwood S. Tolan, was completed on September 23, 1902., The county's first courthouse was built on "court-house square" in 1831 but was so poorly constructed it had to be abandoned several years later, as unsafe. The second courthouse was erected in 1847 by local contractor Samuel Edsall, but this soon proved to be inadequate. The third courthouse was a large brick structure designed by Edwin May of Indianapolis; its cornerstone was laid in May 1861 and the building was in use by July 1862., The courthouse yard was the scene of many patriotic gatherings during the Civil War and afterward; however, by the 1890s the building had become so dilapidated that it had to be replaced. A proposal for a shared building for both the city and the county was abandoned when no agreement could be reached among the politicians. The mayor built a city hall, and the county commissioners built the fourth (present) courthouse. Finally, in 1971 a combined City-County facility was built.